TORONTO – Time and again, the Toronto Blue Jays have shown that they do drama well. Their 43 comeback wins before Wednesday night’s action were tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers for most in the majors. They had a .469 win-percentage when giving up the first run. They’d won 13 games when behind after six innings, 10 more when trailing after seven and another four when down through eight. In extra innings, they’re 9-4. Bottom line – they don’t go away.
“What gets lost, I think, is yes, we’ve had 43 comeback wins, but the way we play allows us to do that,” manager John Schneider said. “So if it doesn’t start well, you have plays like (the ones centre-fielder Daulton Varsho made Tuesday night), you have a couple double plays and then all of a sudden you can just keep the game within reach. And then guys have responded with their contact ability or hitting a home run, to try to generate some runs. But the key, I think, is keeping the game where it is and giving yourself a shot.”
They did precisely that in the opener of a three-game set against the Houston Astros and then seemed set to repeat the feat Wednesday night, when they erased a two-run deficit in the eighth inning. But Jeff Hoffman gave up a solo shot to Yainer Diaz in the ninth inning and the Blue Jays didn’t have a second rally in them, falling 3-2.
Jose Berrios, carrying a 5.47 ERA over his previous 11 starts, allowed only two runs over 5.1 innings during a steadying outing, albeit one that ended with Carlos Correa’s 200th career home run, a solo shot in the sixth, that doubled the Houston lead to 2-0.
Berrios also allowed a two-out RBI double to the hard-hitting Diaz in the second but otherwise held down a potent lineup during an outing that deserved a better fate.
Astros starter Jason Alexander did his part to ensure it didn’t get one, stymying the Blue Jays on three hits and a walk over seven innings of weak-contact inducement.
Things only turned for the Blue Jays in the eighth, when Isiah Kiner-Falefa started a rally off Steven Okert with a pinch-hit infield single. After Ernie Clement struck out – having first ripped a ball over the left-field wall that was mere feet foul – a second pinch-hit single, this one from Ty France, before an Andres Gimenez base hit made it a 2-1 game.
Enyel De Los Santos came on to strike out George Springer before Nathan Lukes sent a grounder up the middle to tie the game and draw an eruption from the crowd of 36,760. With men on the corners, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. grounded out to end the frame.
Diaz then tagged a 1-1 fastball from Hoffman running to the inner edge over the wall in right, the 15th homer allowed by the closer in 62.1 innings this season. In a combined 118.2 frames the previous two seasons, Hoffman allowed only nine homers.
